Exhortation to Martyrdom 39
Summary: Christians hated by the world should endure to the end, not love the passing world, and see that they may have been spared for a martyr's baptism in their own blood.
Greek text · Koetschau 1:36–37
Τόπον διὰ τῆς εἰς τὸ μαρτύριον προθυμίας δότε τῷ τοῦ πατρὸς ὑμῶν πνεύματι λαλοῦντι τοῖς διὰ θεοσέβειαν παραδοθεῖσιν· ἐὰν εἰδῆτε ἑαυτοὺς μισουμένους καὶ βδελυκτοὺς καὶ ἀσεβεῖς εἶναι νομιζομένους, τότε ἀναλάβετε τό· „διὰ τοῦτο ὁ κόσμος ὑμᾶς μισεῖ“, „ὅτι οὐκ ἐστὲ ἐκ τοῦ κόσμου τούτου·“ „εἰ γὰρ ἦτε ἐκ τοῦ κόσμου τούτου, ὁ κόσμος ἂν τὸ ἴδιον ἐφίλει“. πολλοὺς ὀνειδισμοὺς διὰ Χριστὸν καὶ πολλοὺς κινδύνους, ἐξ οὗ πεπιστεύκατε, ὑπομείναντες ἕως τέλους ἐν τῷ ὑπομένειν προκόψατε, ὅτι „ὁ ὑπομείνας εἰς τέλος, οὗτος σωθήσεται“. ἴστε ὅτι κατὰ τὸν Πέτρον ἀγαλλιάσεσθε „ὀλίγον ἄρτι εἰ δέον ἐστὶ λυπηθέντες ἐν ποικίλοις πειρασμοῖς, ἵνα τὸ δοκίμιον ὑμῶν τῆς πίστεως πολυτιμότερον χρυσίου τοῦ ἀπολλυμένου καὶ διὰ πυρὸς δεδοκιμασμένου εὑρεθῇ εἰς ἔπαινον καὶ δόξαν καὶ τιμὴν ἐν ἀποκαλύψει Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ“. ἀλλὰ τοῦ „λυπηθέντες“ ἀντὶ τοῦ πονέσαντες ἀκούσατε, ὡς δῆλον καὶ ἐκ τοῦ· „ἐν λύπαις τέξῃ τέκνα“· οὐ γὰρ πάντως ἐν λύπῃ τῷ πάθει τίκτει γυνὴ ἀλλὰ ἐν πόνῳ. εἰ μὲν χρήσιμον τοῖς Χριστοῦ μαθηταῖς τό· „μὴ ἀγαπᾶτε τὸν κόσμον μηδὲ τὰ ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ. ἐάν τις ἀγαπᾷ τὸν κόσμον, οὐκ ἔστιν ἡ ἀγάπη τοῦ πατρὸς ἐν αὐτῷ· ὅτι πᾶν τὸ ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ, ἡ ἐπιθυμία τῆς σαρκὸς καὶ ἡ ἐπιθυμία τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν καὶ ἡ ἀλαζονεία τοῦ βίου, οὐκ ἔστιν ἐκ τοῦ πατρὸς ἀλλʼ ἐκ τοῦ κόσμου ἐστίν. καὶ ὁ κόσμος παράγεται καὶ ἡ ἐπιθυμία“· μὴ οὖν ἀγαπᾶτε τὰ παραγόμενα, ἀλλὰ ποιοῦντες τὸ θέλημα τοῦ θεοῦ ἄξιοι γίνεσθε τοῦ ἓν γενέσθαι ἅμα υἱῷ καὶ πατρὶ καὶ ἁγίῳ πνεύματι κατὰ τὴν τοῦ σωτῆρος εὐχὴν λέγοντος· ὡς ἐγὼ καὶ σὺ ἕν ἐσμεν. „ἵνα καὶ αὐτοὶ ἐν ἡμῖν ἓν ὦσι“. πόσας δὲ καὶ ἡμέρας ἔστι κερδῆσαι ἀγαπήσαντα „τὸν κόσμον“ ἢ „τὰ ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ“ καὶ τὴν ἑαυτοῦ ψυχὴν ζημιούμενον ἢ ἀπολλύντα καὶ περιφέροντα συνειδὸς βαρούμενον ὑπὲρ „φορτίον βαρὺ“ καὶ βαρούμενον ὑπὸ τοῦ τῆς ἀρνήσεως πτώματος; ὑπομνησθῶμεν ἕκαστος, ὁσάκις ἀποθανεῖν τὸν κοινὸν θάνατον ἐκινδύνευσε, καὶ λογισώμεθα, μή ποτε διὰ τοῦτο ἐτηρήθημεν, ἵνα βαπτισάμενοι τῷ ἑαυτῶν αἵματι καὶ ἀπολουσάμενοι πᾶσαν ἁμαρτίαν παρὰ τῷ ἐν οὐρανοῖς θυσιαστηρίῳ τὰς διατριβὰς μετὰ τῶν συναγωνισαμένων ποιησώμεθα.
English · Claude translation
By your eagerness for martyrdom, give place to the Spirit of your Father, who speaks in those delivered up for the sake of their worship of God. If you see yourselves hated and thought abominable and impious, then take up the words, “Therefore the world hates you,” “because you are not of this world”; “for if you were of this world, the world would love its own.” Having endured many reproaches for Christ's sake and many dangers since you believed, make progress in endurance to the end, because “he who endures to the end will be saved.” Know that, as Peter says, you will rejoice, “though now for a little while, if need be, you are grieved by various trials, so that the testing of your faith, more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” But take “grieved” in the sense of “having toiled,” as is clear also from “In grief you shall bear children”; for a woman does not always bear children in grief as an emotion, but in toil. If the words are useful to the disciples of Christ, “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the desire of the flesh and the desire of the eyes and the pride of life, is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away, and its desire”: do not then love the things that are passing away, but by doing the will of God become worthy of becoming one together with the Son and the Father and the Holy Spirit, according to the Savior's prayer when he says, “As I and you are one,” “that they also may be one in us.” And how many days can one gain by loving “the world” or “the things in the world,” while forfeiting or losing one's own soul, and carrying about a conscience weighed down beyond a “heavy burden,” weighed down by the fall of denial? Let each of us remember how often he has been in danger of dying the common death, and let us consider whether perhaps we were kept safe for this purpose: that, baptized in our own blood and washed clean of every sin, we might spend our time at the altar in heaven with those who have contended with us.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The quotations are Matt 10:20, John 15:19, Matt 10:22, 1 Pet 1:6–7, Gen 3:16, 1 John 2:15–17, John 17:21–22 (freely), Matt 16:26, and Ps 38:4 (37:5 LXX). Origen explains λυπηθέντες (“grieved”) in 1 Pet 1:6 as “having toiled,” citing Gen 3:16.
Cite this passage
Origen, Mart. 39 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-exhortatio/39/).
Plain text
Origen, Mart. 39 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-exhortatio/39/).
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